You have probably already noticed that Microsoft has released the Windows 8.1 update a bit early today. All Windows 8 users can install the upgrade by visiting the built-in store of the operating system. That’s very convenient, even though it is not that different from distributing the update via Windows Update.

Installation via the store is just one of the options to upgrade to Windows 8.1. It is likely that Microsoft will make available ISO images of the operating system as well, but those are not yet available.

But what if you want to test the new version of Windows first before you make the plunge and upgrade your operating system to it?

Microsoft has released a trial version of Windows 8.1 Enterprise that you can install for that purpose.

You do need a Microsoft account to download the ISO image from the site.

The trial version is good for 90-days.

Hardware Requirements

CPU: 1 GHz processor or faster.

RAM: 1 Gigabyte (32-bit) or 2 Gigabyte (64-bit).

Hard Disk space: 16 Gigabyte (32-bit) or 20 Gigabyte (64-bit).

Graphics Card: DirectX 9 graphics device with WDDM driver

To download, select whether you want to download the 32-bit or 64-bit ISO image of Windows 8.1 and proceed. You are asked to sign in to your Microsoft account on the next page, and are taken to a form on the page thereafter.

Most fields are filled out automatically, but you need to make a couple of choices manually before you can start the download. Probably the most important choice is the language of the download. Make sure you pick the right language here and select data for the other fields that are not auto-filled.

If you prefer direct download links, here they are for the English version: